through new year's day, on c- span3. >> you think of washington before the civil war. you think slavery was well entrenched. black people were miserable. that is not true at all. in washington, washington had about 30,000 people as a city. 12,000 of them were black. the majority free, no slaves. >> what led to the first race riots? jefferson morley recounts what happened, part of what today's through new year's day on c- span2's book tv. >> "washington journal" continues. host: damian paletta join us here at the table. thank you for joining us. this is the fourth time that congress has had a post- christmas lame duck session. what does that tell you about the magnitude of the issues? guest: it is not like an issue us.'s snuck up on expiring tax cuts, payroll tax cuts is going away. all these things have been out there for a long time. some of this was put off because of the election. they have to get some kind of deal to avert what can be a messy beginning of the new year. host: any deal is likely to be limited. guest: we have heard about the talks between president ob